There's a new wave of companies embracing "remote work", with employees spread across continents and time zones, freed from the cubicle and a soul-sapping daily commute.

Gone are the days of water cooler chat and bonding at a messy staff Christmas party. Remote companies find innovative ways for their workers to connect, whether that's Skype pyjama parties where pizza is delivered to each worker's home, or online book clubs with everyone comparing notes on Slack.

Is it all it's cracked up to be?

Scroll through the remote work web and speak to remote workers and you'll notice an almost evangelical tone. "Life-changing" seems to be the go-to description, and they mean it.

But UTS employment academic Sarah Kaine paints a sobering picture of this "new frontier of work".

"Most workplaces are not equipped in policy and outlook to allow large-scale remote working, particularly among lower grade workers, who have little bargaining power.

"There's a mismatch between younger workers' expectation of what a workplace looks like and the fairly traditional organisations we're still working in.

"It's an unrealistic expectation that there'll be flexibility for workers, as opposed to flexibility for businesses, which is what we're seeing in the gig economy."

Yahoo, IBM and Reddit are some of the mega-companies that have banned or curtailed remote working, despite social media uprisings at their decisions.

A work revolution

Remote work is most common in the tech sector, where an undersupply of skilled workers mean companies need to draw on a global talent pool. But it's slowly creeping into other industries.

Its advocates say it could revolutionise how we work and spell the death of the office.

Remote work is seen as a perk by 65 per cent of workers, plus it's 35 per cent faster to hire new staff, according to the TinyPulse Remote Work Survey. Staff retention is 25 per cent higher, too — "it's a big part of what keeps me in my role", says Mr Eckstein. Then there's the massive savings on office overheads.

The utopian claims don't end there: a shift to remote work could take thousands of cars off the road, easing congestion and reducing the average worker's carbon footprint by up to a quarter.

Isolation and work creep

The businesses leading the remote work charge are also quick to admit its challenges.

Mr Eckstein says he couldn't imagine going back to a 9-5 job, but acknowledges that with his lack of fixed hours "it can be hard to fully disconnect".

"I got into a bad habit of working on a Saturday morning, because that's when a lot of my overseas colleagues were online," he says.

But Ms Kaine says work creep is not limited to remote workers.

"Even if you work in a traditional office, you're contactable by your devices 24/7."

Australian entrepreneur Rob Rawson, who started software company Time Doctor, has 80 employees in 23 countries. He says remote companies work hard to keep their staff connected, swapping tips in a labyrinth of "going remote" blogs.

"There are some cases where employees get lonely and find it destructive, but that's less than 5 per cent."

Mr Eckstein's managers have deployed "Slackbots" — automated messages that prompt workers to jump on a video call for a chat with a colleague they don't know.

"We might miss out on surface level stuff but we have a very intentional practice of getting to know each other on a deep level. Despite the distance, the people I work with are now more close-knit than any other company."

"We've been experimenting with Oculus goggles lately," he adds.

"We had these meetings in virtual reality where my 'avatar' was in the same space as my colleague's avatars and we'd talk through our headsets.

"It didn't feel that suited to work meetings just yet but there's a lot of opportunity there."

"Overseas staff can deliver work overnight, so you're able to produce more in shorter time-frames," he says.

To Mr Moreau, remote companies are a no-brainer for companies in a country like Australia, that's "on the edge of the Earth".

"Australia has a small population. If you want your business to grow, at some point, you'll need to tap into bigger markets, and having boots on the ground in those places and their time zones is going to help you."

What happens when you can't spy on workers?

The most common question for remote business owners is, "how do you know whether your workers are actually working?"

But Mr Moreau says he doesn't need to keep checks on his team of 12.

"It just requires a shift in how we think about work — less about how many hours you spent at a desk and more about whether you delivered what you were expected to and met the business's needs."

In a global talent pool, will Australians lose out?

One risk of businesses going remote is that Australians are competing with similarly skilled workers in lower-cost countries.

"It's a risk with globalisation in general," says Mr Rawson.

"If you have a job that requires face-to-face contact, you won't have an issue. But if you're a mediocre software developer then you are going to have issues, because now you're competing with every developer in the world."

But Mr Rawson has learnt first-hand the challenges that can come with offshore hiring.

"We started with a large team in the Philippines but there were some cultural barriers, for example, they have a more deferential culture, so employees weren't pointing out mistakes when they saw them.

"The difference between cultures are very, very large. The longer I'm running remote businesses, the more I'm heading towards trying to get the best person at a higher salary level and not trying to do the offshore model."

Barriers aside, Mr Eckstein and Mr Rawson say global hiring has resulted in more diverse teams, which has flowed through to their products.

"It helps us empathise with our customer base and build products that aren't based on one specific region," says Mr Eckstein.

Can remote work boost our GDP?

Natalie Goldman, CEO of FlexCareers says Australian companies are lagging behind Europe, Scandinavia, the US and UK in embracing flexible and remote work.